My Aching Feet

Sorry it's been a while since I posted. I, as previously mentioned, have been putting in long days both at Starbucks and the video rental place. I worked about 18 hours between Saturday and Sunday and my feet are killing me. I soak them, rub them, ice them, and take ibuprofen, but being on them so often isn't allowing them time to feel any better for more than a couple of hours in mid-morning. I put off a trip to the grocery store until tomorrow because I couldn't imagine walking through the store itself. It feels as if I'm walking on bruises.

I'm training on the espresso bar this week. It's exciting. I can make all sorts of fancy-pants drinks. Also, I'm a tea master!

No word on the library job yet. I hope they call soon. I've been scheduled to interview for a job that I'd rather not have but would feel obligated to take if I don't get the library job. I'd much rather spend my first day off in 3.5 weeks next Tuesday relaxing instead of driving to Podunk Capitol City 2 hours away to interview a job I'm not sure I want. It would be much easier to say "sorry, I accepted another offer." What really gets me is that I would take this job in a second if it were in my city, or Chicago, or Kansas City, or even Nashville. But taking this job, especially before my house sells, would require me to support two households and keep a second job (I don't want to start training again....), live in PCC, require me to forgo teaching the two college courses I was offered in the spring, not have my family in town to help me with my dog on long days, and require me to move to PCC, then move again to Chicago next summer.

Five people came to see my house yesterday. Keep your fingers crossed that one of them is serious about making a real offer! As soon as the house sells I can sit back, enjoy Starbucks (which offers benefits at 20 hours a week), enjoy subbing and or teaching my classes next spring and STILL manage to save a ton of money. While polishing my resume up for Chicago next fall and purchase a few little items (like a digital camera) of course.

And because I want to share with you the joy of working retail, here's an interesting snippet from my experiences at the video rental place.

We sell lots of candy at the vrp. We also don't do a ton of business in the middle of the day during week days. Last week on Tuesday my first sale of the day walked in a little before noon, 2 hours after opening.

She didn't look very well put together. Her clothes matched, but they were a little dirty and a little small. Her skirt hung under her ample belly. She appeared to be in her early to mid twenties, but definitely the worse for wear. Her eye makeup was heavy and smeared.

She brought about 4 pounds of candy to the counter, and no movies. She started to strike up a conversation. "I heard you guys talking about your pets," she said. This much is true. Chris and I were having a conversation about our dogs and cats. What follows, however, is entirely fantastical.

"I have cats," she said, "I keep them clipped in cages like birds. So they won't fly away." I nodded and smiled. "I let them out every once in a while. I feed them the candy to make them use the litterbox. They're attracted to the bright colors."

Of course they are.

I learned a little later that this young woman was one of our regulars, a fairly notorious drug user and sometimes prostitute. That could explain the clipped cats story. She really appeared to believe it.

Now as much as I hate working at LRP, the neighborhood I work in is pretty neat. It's incredibly diverse. I usually hear at least 3 or 4 other languages than English each weekend shift I work. I get to practice my Spanish too. (Two Hondurans asked me out on Saturday after helping them find a movie.) In addition, we have a very healthy mix of toothless (and toothful) rednecks and gay men and women, since our store is nearby a fairly gay neighborhood. I seriously went from having a discussion about the show the L-word and Logo to detailing the finer points of our selection of straight to video horror movies. Since our neighborhood is fairly cheap we also have a number of young recent college graduates trying to save money whom I also enjoy talking with about our foreign film selection. I can not emphasize how much my night changes over the course of any given shift.

Still, I am looking forward to quitting LRP as soon as I can afford to. After the store closes 3 weeks from now I will be moved to a less interesting and possibly suburban neighborhood. Since I already dislike the job so much, losing that diversity of clientele will be the final nail in the coffin that ensures that there is not even one thing left that I like about the job.